Search All 1 Records in Our Collections

Welcome to the new Collections Search. You can still use the previous version of the site at this link.

The Museum’s Collections document the fate of Holocaust victims, survivors, rescuers, liberators, and others through artifacts, documents, photos, films, books, personal stories, and more. Search below to view digital records and find material that you can access at our library and at the Shapell Center.

Theater performance; balcony

INT of a theater. People in costume rehearse a scene in which a king and queen process across the stage, followed by men holding the King's train. Two women (not seen heretofore on Film IDs 2719 or 2720 are shown sitting in the audience, no one else in audience. One of these women is shown on a balcony in the sunshine, cuddling and playing with a cat, which doesn't seem happy about the situation. A bald man in civilian clothes is shown briefly playing with the cat as well (man seen at 01:06:10 in Story 4409 and in Story 4411). Brief shot of mountain and lake.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum purchased five 16mm film reels called "Die Katze im Sack" from a flea market in Berlin, Germany via Juergen Matthaeus (Museum staff member) in September 2003. The original owner and subjects are unknown. It is likely that the films were collected and/or filmed by a Wehrmacht officer stationed in Paris in early 1940.

Record last modified: 2018-08-08 16:29:35
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn1003902

Also in Die Katze im Sack

Five 16mm film reels called "Die Katze im Sack" were purchased from a flea market in Berlin, Germany. The original owner and subjects are unknown. It is likely that the films were collected and/or filmed by a Wehrmacht officer stationed in Paris in early 1940.

People at International Exposition in Paris in 1937. Statues. Foot of Eiffel Tower. Aerial shots, crowds, pavilions. CUs, people transported in little train car (powered by automobile). MSs, German pavilion with eagle at top. Buildings with sign: "Dauphine" and "A la Cicogne." Boat in river, traveling shot of pavilions and large statues. Children walking over bridge at expo attraction.

Daytime, line to get into the expo grounds, guards stamping passes. View of country pavilions: Denmark. Austria. Canada. 01:17:30 German pavilion - the largest at the Exposition. CUs, eagle sculpture at top of building, swastika. Belgium. Radio. Italy. Sweden. USA. Czechoslovakia. Food stalls. MSs aquarium, turtle.

Aerial view of German military parading on a street. Camera pans along the street. Shots of a brunette woman (featured in Film ID 2720) being playful with the German in dark-rimmed glasses. Two blondes, not seen before. Rooftops of Paris and the Eiffel Tower in the distance, scenes of Germans at Versailles. Camera focuses on two German officers walking towards camera, including the officer leading the meeting in Story 4414 at the left. As the men exit the grounds of the palace, women converge on the men and attempt to hand them pieces of paper, which the men ignore. Brief scene of a checkpoint at the Arc de Triomphe. German soldiers check automobiles and let them through (same vehicle seen at Story 4408).

A dance or circus performance of some kind, on a stage, including acrobatics, juggling, ice skating, and a comic routine with man dressed as a cowboy riding a bucking "horse". This was most likely a Kraft durch Freude (KdF) variety performance to exhibit German artists.

More tourist-y views of Paris streets, including Eiffel Tower and the obelisk in the Place de la Concorde. The camera sometimes focuses on individuals, such as the woman seen before, the elderly man, and the German officer leading the map meeting with the glasses (in Story 4414). 01:09:55 SEQ: German with dark-rimmed glasses with three French women (not seen before). Street scenes, signs, buses, pedestrians and German soldier, cars, "Café de la Paix" restaurant on corner. Policeman looks directly into camera briefly. Man with glasses in previous map scene walks across the city streets with civilian clothes, camera follows him. 01:13:32 Newspaper vendor displays his goods and passersby slow down to read the headlines. 01:14:36 Opera Garnier house. 01:14:59 Cameraman filming himself and German with glasses (in Story 4414 - map scene) in mirrored shop window, both in civilian clothes. EXT, Hotel Scribe. 01:15:08 Shots of 6 uniformed Germans walking towards the camera, standing on a balcony with the Arc de Triomphe in the distance. They are almost certainly all from the map session shown in Story 4414, Film ID 2720. Shot of women through pane of glass, Eiffel Tower reflection seen. More aerial and ground-level shots of a German military parade, with the Arc de Triomphe in the BG.

Unsteady, shot from moving vehicle across streets, monument. Montmarte district in Paris. Camera steadies at 01:01:40. People exiting buildings. Germans in uniform on the street then across and to the top of the La Basilique du Sacre Coeur. Pan across street, encompassing bars (including one at 01:02:26 seen later in Story 4411), restaurants, shops. Civilians on the street; German officer (SS?) watching the scene turns and walks toward the camera, smiling, acknowledging the camera. Quality deteriorates at 01:02:55: darker and grainy, showing Germans walking on the street against French civilians; brief focus on a couple of older French people on the street; paintings for sale hung on the walls of buildings outside. Appears to be snowing. View down a narrow street toward the Basilica. German officer with dark-rimmed glasses with female friend. Brief shot of Germans entering a shop. 01:03:38 Scene at the Arc de Triomphe. The camera takes in the entire monument, panning up from the ground. French civilians walk through and around the Arc. German officer with female friend, and a lower-ranking German soldier, walking toward the camera. The same three are shown next to a car a moment later. This is probably a Paris sightseeing tour. 01:04:27 shows Notre Dame; same woman and man in the scene.

Another day, showing monument/great building, two women with another German officer. Focus on one (not the same woman as shown previously), who is smiling and laughing. She tips her hat to the camera. 01:05:18 in a park. Two women from the previous scene are laughing and swinging on a swing set, standing up. An older woman speaks to them, appearing to chastise them (perhaps for standing or for swinging too high, or she wants the children to get a turn). Children in BG. Two women and the officer at a food stall of some kind. One of the women (in dark coat) feeds something to the German officer (flirtatiously). Panning shot of scenery taken from some high point above Paris. German guard at front of gate of Versailles. Camera pans to the top of the gate showing Louis XIV engraving. SS officer and the woman with light-colored jacket and hat (shown earlier) from behind as they regard the gate and the German guard. Camera shows naked female statue. Same woman in light-colored coat with an older man in civilian clothes (seen later in Stories 4411 and 4416 and in Film ID 2719) holding her arm. Pan of a river, scenery appears more village-y than Paris. 01:06:34 Soldiers march, marching band; Arc de Triomphe in BG. Camera movement jerky and focus not good. Camera shows marching soldiers with large motorcade following them. Louis Vuitton shop on the street. 01:07:46 Scene switches to INT, the two women from earlier shown modeling dresses, swimsuits. They smile, dance, and otherwise pose for the camera. At one point the blonde woman appears to be wearing only a bra on top; she twirls an open umbrella in front of her. Coffee. The officer with the glasses can be seen briefly in the background, smiling and watching them. He wears his uniform, but his shirt is unbuttoned, showing his white undershirt.

Outdoors on an athletic field. An older man wearing an athletic suit, jumps for camera. Two different women and German soldier with glasses. A nurse is visible briefly in the BG - maybe this is on the grounds of a hospital? CU, blonde woman. Women and 2 German officers talk, greet each other, walk about the field, look over stone wall.

Brief shot of bride and groom. LS church, Basilica. Panning shot of Montmartre district street scenes; cafes, people in street. Another uniformed German and a woman with heavy makeup (not the same people as earlier) sit at an outdoor table. Signs on the bar (seen earlier in Story 4408, but more in depth here) are in German: "Der Wirt spricht Deutsch" "Speise Wirtschafte Belegte Brotchen." The German and the woman drink through straws. The next scene shows the same woman sitting at the same table with an elderly man in civilian clothes (seen earlier at 01:06:10 in Story 4409 and later in Story 4416). They also drink through straws. View of "Restaurant a La Mere Catherine" "Jardin Bosquets" across the screet with people sitting at outdoor tables and walking past. Brief CU of woman from previous scene, smoking and talking with someone beside her.

Nighttime scene of a church service, Easter in Kiev. Very bad quality EXT shot of people arriving at a church; quality is somewhat better inside, where throngs of people watch as clergy and others make their way to the altar. Some pushing and shoving because of the enormity of the crowd. Perhaps taking communion?

INT of an office where a meeting is being held. Camera pans around the table, showing perhaps a dozen men, mostly German officers, smoking and a female secretary (one of the women seen earlier?) Maps on the wall. Some men in civilian clothes (French collaborators?) Marked map on the wall, one of the Germans (shown in Stories 4405 and 4407, and earlier in Story 4412 wearing lighter-rimmed glasses at 01:12:10) points to parts of the map and gives a presentation to the others.

Another outdoor café scene showing a German and a woman sitting at a table (woman seen before in Story 4410 on Film ID 2720), smiling at the camera. Man's metal arm braces leaning against fence post. Same woman and another sitting at a table drinking tea, perhaps in a yard, greenery. A different woman is shown exiting a restaurant and crossing the street toward the camera. A moment later, a German is shown exiting. He waves his hand in front of his face, perhaps indicating that the camera should be turned off.

Learn about over 1,000 camps and ghettos in Volume I and II of this encyclopedia, which are available as a free PDF download. This reference provides text, photographs, charts, maps, and extensive indexes.